In SD you have to get a release from a Dr saying your physically unable to use a traditional or compound bow to get to you a crossbow use permit. I passed on a sweet deal on a slightly used Ravin R-10 a month a go because I don't have that release yet. That ravin made a muzzleloader look like a joke to 100yds. It's as high tech as anyone's 3-5000 dollar rifle. Mb
I don't know about the new super fast ones, but my experience with a dozen or so deer with a regular bow is that you get past a certain distance and jumping the string becomes a thing. It doesn't matter how accurate the arrow flies if you're literally guessing at where the deer will be when it gets there.
That said, 40 yards is a "long" shot where I hunt no matter whether I've got rifle, pistol, muzzle loader or bow.
There is no way a deer won't jump the string, even with X-bow at ranges past 50 yards. They make too much noise and the arrow has to fly too far. Even at 450fps it has like 3/4 of a second to move out of the "strike zone" of the bolt from 100 yds.
Based on my own experience, 7 shots resulting in 6 hits, plus countless videos I’ve watched, I think that an unalarmed deer will often not jump the string. One that’s looking your way wondering what you are at the shot probably will. The last one I shot at with my xbow stood there while it zipped over his back, then trotted off, as much I think in response to the sound of the bolt hitting the ground as the whang of the bow. He was 50 lasered yards away. I just whiffed it. The other deer were taken at between 20 and 35 yards. Only one was looking at me, and she had zero time to duck. The rest only moved when the bolt hit.
Nothing is written in stone of course. I’ve seen more than one stay put after being missed by a rifle, as long as there was no other sound or movement to alert them to my presence.
